*Lt. George A. Bennett (also
won the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal)

The
Missing Civil War Picture

For
many years a picture of eight Civil War veterans from Waltham hung up in the
City Council chambers at City Hall. When Mayor Clark was elected in 1969 he
had these chambers repainted. The picture was removed and never seen again. It
may be in storage in a city building.

One of the veterans in that picture was Richard VanDermark. He
was in the Battle of Bull Run and later became a prisoner of the Confederates.
Records show that he died in 1912 while living at 197 Chestnut Street.
Recently, his granddaughter, Marilyn McCabe Ruggerio (Class of 1941) was
looking for this picture and couldn’t find it. The Waltham Museum is asking
our members for information on the whereabouts of this picture.

Edward
McCabe, VanDermark’s grandson, graduated from Waltham High in 1936 and went
to West Point. He now livesin
New Hampshire according to his sister Marilyn. Their father was James Francis
McCabe.

Waltham
Man on PT-109 with John F. Kennedy

We
received an email from Samuel Zaffiri (SamuelZaffiri@aol.com) who is writing a
book on John F. Kennedy and the sinking of PT-l09. He says that one of the
crewmen was Charles Harris GM2 of Waltham. Harris died on May 6, 1982. The
museum couldn’t help Zaffiri and so we ask our members to assist if they
can.

John Arena of Waltham who served on PT-l21 and 120 in the South Pacific
at the same time, tells the museum that he knew a Willie Johnson of Derby
Street in Waltham who he thought served on PT-109. They knew each other in
Melville, Rhode Island, a Navy PT boat center.

An
Email on A Waltham Hero

Tom
Schultz of Wilton, New Hampshire writes, “Are
you aware of 2nd Lt. Francis John Joyce, Jr. who lived at 39
Greenwood Lane in Waltham and who was killed-in-action over Germany when his
B-17 was shot down by German Fighters on May 8, 1944, while on a mission over
Germany. His body was returned after the war, and I believe he is buried in
Waltham, which I need to do research on.

“He was with the 8th Air Force of the U.S. Army Air Corps,
serving in the 96th Bomb Group, 339th Bombardment
Squadron, and was a Bombardier.” [Editors Note: Francis Joyce’s father was
the founder of Joyce Funeral Home. Young Joyce graduated from Waltham High
School in 1937 and attended college. He was single. Buried at Cavalry Cemetery
in Waltham.]

Four
Other Silver Star Winners from the Waltham National Guard

Cpl.
Anthony Giardina now of Florida, Cpl. William Dwyer now of Texas, the late 1st
Sgt. George Barron, and the late Staff Sgt. Edward Hartley were four other
Waltham National Guardsmen that won the Silver Star during World War II. Giardina
killed five Germans and held back attackers despite five enemy bullets that
lodged in his lungs, shoulder and neck. Hartley
rescued a wounded comrade on Guadalcanal under intense mortar and artillery
fire. Barron
took charge of his platoon on Guadalcanal after its leader was killed and led
the men in knocking out two Japanese pillboxes and securing a hill. Dwyer
put a Japanese machine gun out of action on Guadalcanal.

History
of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 182nd Infantry

The
182nd Infantry is the oldest
citizen-soldier regiment in America. It can be traced back to 1636 and the
records show that it fought in most of the American wars and more.

On
January 21, 1941, Company F and its Headquarters Company which drilled
regularly at the Waltham Armory on Sharon Street, were both federalized. They
marched from the armory to the railroad station for the train to take them to
Camp Edwards on the Cape. Their orders were to be on active duty in the U.S.
Army for one year. However, due to the coming of World War II they would not
come home again until 1945 when the war was over.

They saw their first action at Guadalcanal as part of the 23rd
Division known as the Americal Division. The fighting continued to other
islands such as Bougainville and the Phillipines right up to the doors of
Japan itself.

Many brave men fought with Miele and Vinciullo, and some never made it
back. When Miele and Vinciullo are honored on March 24th,
they will represent all the brave men from Company F and Headquarters Company
of Waltham who fought during World War II. They will also represent the
365-year history of the citizen-soldiers of Waltham. Please try to attend.

PINTABONA
Awarded The Distinguished Flying Cross In World War II

Staff
Sgt. Bresci J. Pintabona, holder of the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf
clusters and the Presidential Unit Citation has now been awarded the
distinguish Flying Cross according to a 1944 News-Tribune article given to
the museum by his sister, Anita.

He
was the son of Mr. & Mrs. Philip Pintabona of 55 Charles Street in
Waltham. His act of heroism occurred in a B-17 bombing raid over Hamburg,
Germany. Here, at great risk to him and without a parachute, released
stuck bombs in the open bomb bay while five miles high.

A
Foxhole Reunion of Two Brothers During WW II

Three
McKenzie Brothers; Joe, John, and Charles, who were from 27 Alder Street in
Waltham served in Europe with the US Army during World War II – each in a
separate Division. Their younger sister, Dorothy, recently donated a News-Tribune
article on a foxhole reunion of Joe and Charles McKenzie. It reads as follows:
“In January 1945 PVT Charles McKenzie was finishing his coffee outside his
foxhole in Germany when two other soldiers approached. The first soldier asked
him if there was a McKenzie in the crowd. After Charles said that he was a
McKenzie the second soldier said, “No, that’s not him. He must be somebody
else.”As they both took a closer look at each other they finally
recognized each other. Charles goes on to say, “It
was Joe! I was so surprised to see him that

I
just whispered a feeble ‘Joe’ and shook his hand before I actually knew
what I was doing. He had a beard and I guess he didn’t recognize me either
because I had a beard too. I haven’t had a chance to wash or shave since
long before Joe came to see me. Joe had received my letter of January 17 and
he promptly got a 3-day pass to see me. Actually he was almost right next door
all the time.

“He
slept in my foxhole that night and we talked long into the night of our home
in Waltham, and our friends in the service. He gave me the lowdown on John’s
outfit and how the war was going on other parts of this front. Joe left about
noon the next day. I was in much better spirits for having seen him.”

In
November 1944 the 70th Infantry Div. that included the 274th,
275th and 276th regiments left Camp Myles Standish in
Massachusetts and landed in Marseilles, France on Dec. 10, 1944. On Dec. 20th
the Division boarded 48 boxcars and traveled north toward the front line. They
arrived at Brumath, France in the Voges Mountains on Christmas Eve. From here
they marched to Bischweiler and to Phillipsburg near the German border. In the
275th was platoon staff-sergeant Edward Cloonan of Waltham. He was
in Company D of the 1st Battalion. Cloonan graduated from St.
Mary’s in 1936. His father was a lieutenant in the Waltham Police
Department.

At
this time, the Battle of the Buldge, about 80 miles north of Phillipsburg was
going bad for the Germans. On January 2, 1945 Hitler started another offence
called operation Nordwind to help his troops in the north. One of the first
objectives was Phillipsburg, which was a key road and rail terminal. Here the
274th and the 275th were surrounded by Germans. After a tough battle they
drove the Germans back. In the book “History of the 275th Regiment,”
Sgt. Cloonan was mentioned for being directly involved in the fighting with
his heavy-duty machine gun. For this and action at Spichern Heights and
Saabrucken on February 21 and 22, Cloonan would receive the Bronze Star. He
was extremely lucky not to get killed. One German bullet passed through a
bible missal he had in his pocket.

The
book also mentions that Cloonan helped capture some 50 prisoners-of-war during
the February operations. An August 1945 article in the News-Tribune
tells his story.

Pfc.
Phillip J. Keefe of Waltham was not as lucky. He was in the 274th Regiment. In
the book, “Snow Ridges and Pillboxes” by Lt. Col. Wallace R. Cheves,
a true history of the 274th Infantry Regiment, Keefe is mentioned three times:

1.Pfc. Lloyd (a man in Keefe’s squad) says, “Every time we raised our
heads the Germans would cut us down. About this time, my boy, Keefe, came to
the rescue and did one hell of a job with his BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle),
permitting us to go forward.”

2.“The Germans were surrendering to Lloyd’s squad when a hidden
German started to fire his machine gun on them. They were all stunned but
Keefe, he blew the machine gunner away with his BAR.”

3.“We all dug in and had just settled down when orders came to send
five men back to protect the anti-tank platoon. Sgt. Creedon drew this unlucky
assignment and took Pfc. Hanson, Kirk, Jenks and Keefe.”

Pfc.
Phillips J. Keefe was killed-in-action on March 3, 1945. He was awarded the
Bronze Star posthumously. He is now buried at Mt. Feake Cemetery in Waltham.

The
Sands of Olasana Island

In
1971 James J. Fahey of Waltham, the author of Pacific War Diary married Adele
Fuller. Fahey was an admirer of President John F. Kennedy whose boat crew was
stranded on Olasana Island during World War II when the Japanese sank his PT
Boat No. 109.

Fahey
was also a collector of Kennedy memorabilia and he desperately wanted a sample
of sand from Olasana Island. He was very friendly with the nuns at the Marist
Missionary Sister at 62 Newton Street in Waltham and asked them if they could
help.

Sister
Mary Teresa Cartier of the Marist Missionary was doing missionary work in that
area of the Pacific at that time and she was asked to help Fahey get this sand
from Olasana Island. Sister Teresa contacted Sister Mary Michael, a Dominican
nun who she knew in Australia. Sister Michael knew Father Meese of the
Dominicans who knew the island and could get the sand. Father Meese went to
Olasana Island by boat and got the sand. The sand was delivered to Sister
Teresa and she took it back to America after her assignment was complete. When
she flew into California the sand was confiscated by authorities for
laboratory examination. Sister Teresa continued on to Waltham without the
sand. In 1973 the California authorities released the sand and it was mailed
to Sister Teresa in Waltham. Finally, after all this time and effort, the sand
was given to James J. Fahey. It is now in the process of being donated to the
Waltham Museum for display in the James J. Fahey exhibit. Fahey died in 1991.
Today, Sister Mary Teresa Cartier is on duty at the Marist Missionary Home.

The editorial in the current
edition of "Military History," a national magazine, tells
about the National Guard in this century. It reads in part, "From
some of the recent talk in political circles, a few uninformed souls might
think that serving in the National Guard is somehow akin to avoiding combat
and danger. But try telling that to the guys who served in World War I and
II." Then the editor goes on to cite the battles that they have been
involved in from Meuse-Argonne in France during World War I to Omaha Beach in
World War II.

In the case of Company F of the Waltham
National Guard, their actions were summed up very nicely by an article in the
News-Tribune on November 11, 1999. A picture of four veterans, Joe
Rando, Paul Miele, Frank Rourke, and Joe Papa shows them playing golf with
the following story.

"The golf
foursome pictured above was together on a very different course in World War
II. On October 13, 1942, the marines on Guadalcanal were supported by Company
F who were part of the Americal Division. During the next three years,
Company F and the Americal Division help push the Japanese back to Japan.
These veterans of Co. F 182d Infantry, now grandfathers, are still together.
Awards held among them are Bronze Stars, Silver Star, Purple Heart, Combat
Infantry badges, Presidential Unit Citations, Asiatic ribbons with four
stars, Philippines Freedom medals and to their former schoolteachers'
disbelief, the Good Conduct medal."

These
men were part of the great generation.

N. P.
Banks Funeral

Recently we came upon a book entitled Calkins Memorial Military Roster where
First Lieutenant Nathan O. Calkins tells about his experience fighting in the
1864 Red River campaign in Louisianna under Major-General Banks of Waltham.
From March 9 - May 30, 1864, the 16th Corps that he was part of was under
General A. J. Smith who took his orders from the overall commander, Major-General Nathaniel P. Banks.

Lieutenant Calkins states:

Many interesting events occurred—long and hard marching almost
daily fighting from the time we entered the Red River until we returned...

From March 9th to May 30th, 1864 we were under continual marching
orders. At Pleasant Hill the 16th Corps took a conspicuous part in the
battle, and the second day would have achieved a glorious victory had not
Banks ordered a retreat at the very moment of success.

[Editor's note: Calkins didn't realize
that the Confederates were trying to outflank Banks and cut him off from
Admiral Porter whose fleet was stuck in the Red River. The Red River was
having its biggest drought known at that time. In the remainder of Calkins
statement he verifies these facts.]

Calkins statement goes on:

I made it to the Rob Roy, one of Porters ships, when she ran the
blockade above Grand Encore, LA, and narrowly escaped destruction on April
13th.

Calkins continues:

The 16th of May was a day of noted events. At Marksville Prairie,
sixteen miles from the mouth of the Red River, the 16th Army Corp was
guarding the rear of the 13th and 19th Corps, when we were attacked by a
large force. This was the grandest sight that I ever saw or will see. The
Prairie was comparatively level, and our whole command could be seen
maneuvering in battle. It was no sham battle: the cannon's loud-mouthed roar;
the hissing balls; the bursting shells; the musket's sharp crack; the sabre
flash; the sulphurous smoke; the yell of charging troops; and the horses with
empty saddles and loosely-hanging reins, all contributed to make a grand but
terrible sight. We drove back the foe and cared for our dead and wounded.

At
Simsport, LA, we were again attacked by a force of fifteen or
twenty thousand. Our regiment double-quicked here for two miles, and was
actively engaged in one of the most stubbornly fought battles of that
campaign; our loss was heavy; twice we fought the rebels hand to hand, and
drove them back each time. The battle lasted from 9 a.m. until dark. During
this time Banks was crossing the 19th Corps over the Atchafalaya River on a
bridge made of transports. The 16th crossed the next day. Thus ended the
ill-fated campaign.

[Editor's note: General Halleck of
Washington, D.C. ordered General Banks to go on this campaign into the dense
wooded area of upper Louisiana. Admiral Porters ships on the Red River were
suppose to backup Bank's army, but due to the great drought of the Red River
the ships got stuck and the mission had to be abandoned by Banks.]

More
on General Nathaniel P. Banks of Waltham

In
the July 2000 edition of the magazine “America’s Civil War” a
story appears about Winchester, Virginia, a key town for the control of the
Shenandoah Valley. During the Civil War the town changed hands more than 70
times. In early 1862 Major General Nathaniel P. Banks led a Union army and
captured Winchester, defeating Stonewall Jackson at Kernstown. But that
victory was short lived as on May 24, 1862, the Confederates along with the
civilian population pushed Banks back across the Potomac River. Colonel
Gordon, one of General Bank’s officers reported with disdain: “My
retreating column suffered serious loss in the streets of Winchester. Males
and females vied with each other in increasing the number of their victims, by
firing from the houses, throwing hand grenades, hot water, and missiles of
every description….”

Many times in the next two years other Union generals would try to
capture Winchester and win in the Shenandoah Valley but could not. The hills
and valleys along with the civilian population would always allow the
Confederate army to prevail. Only towards the end of the war was General
Sheridan able to win the Shenandoah Valley. At that time, the Confederates
were weak from 4 years of fighting.

In the September 2000 edition of the same magazine is another story on
Stonewall Jackson and Nathaniel Banks. It occurred earlier during October
1861. Stonewall Jackson advanced towards two union dams on the Potomac River
that separated Virginia and Maryland. He intended to blow these dams up. Newly
appointed Major General Banks was assigned to defend this area of Maryland on
the Potomac. Stonewall Jackson once summed up Banks with the words, “He
is generally willing to fight – and he generally gets whipped.” But
that sentiment would not hold true on December 8, 1861. After the battle,
Jackson reported a victory at Dam 5, but the structure was little damage and
caused no disruption to union commerce. On December 20th, Jackson
retreated back to Virginia. [Editor’s note: Little by little, information is
coming out to show that the negative reports of General Banks in the past were
misleading and untrue. More extensive studies will show Banks to be a good
General.]

Daniel C.
Marqus of 18 Cedar Street attended
St. Charles High School. During World War II he was a corporal with the 82nd
Airborne Division and served in the Phillipines, where he was shot in the
foot and received the Purple Heart. He also received the Bronze Star.

Sebastion Ferro was born in Waltham and grew up on Felton Street.
During World War II, while serving with an army anti-aircraft and artillery
division on the Rhine River, he was wounded twice when he was both shot and
stabbed. He received two Purple Hearts. Ferro passed away on November 8,
1998. He was 84.

R. Richard Dow, a lifelong resident of Waltham, served in the Army
Air Corps in World war II and was taken as a prisoner of war. On November 15,
1998, Dow passed away. He was 78 years old.

The Waltham Museum will try to list under
Military History of Waltham all Waltham veterans who saw extensive action
during any war, who received the Bronze Star or higher medals, who were
wounded, or who were prisoners of war.

On June 6, 1944 the allies invaded Normandy and for the next 11
months fierce fighting occurred as the allies push the Nazis back to Berlin
where they surrendered on May 7, 1945. Deeply involved in this fighting
during World War II were the three McKenzie brothers of Waltham whose
home was at 27 Alder Street. Sergeant Joseph McKenzie (32) entered the
U. S. Army on February 1941, ten months before Pearl Harbor. Sergeant John
McKenzie entered the army a month later at the age of 23, and Charles
McKenzie in late 1942 at the age of 18 years.

The three brothers all served as staff
sergeants in the First Army under General Courtney H. Hodges in this European
Theater of Operations. Joseph, who was earlier
in the invasion of North Africa and Sicily, won the Bronze Star with the 9th
Division. His brother John won his Bronze
Star for heroism during the historic Battle of the Bulge when he was part of
the 28th Division. Charles McKenzie was
with the 78th Division that participated in the Ruhr River Crossing and the
capture of the strategic Schwemauel Dam. Earlier he was almost killed when a
snipper's bullet hit his raised right forearm that was over his chest. The
bullet passed through the arm and lodged in a container in his top left
pocket. For this he received the Purple Heart.

All three brothers were members of fighting outfits that won the
Presidential Unit Citations.

On July 31, 1945 the main headline on the
front page of the Waltham News-Tribune read, "3 McKenzie Brothers Win
Citations." The history of Waltham shows that we have had more than our
share of heros fighting for America, none more so than the three McKenzie
brothers who we are very proud of.

The World War II
veterans are all in their 70's and 80's and the recent obituaries almost list
one passing away each day. Listed below are three such veterans from Waltham
with outstanding military records:

1.Anthony L.
Violante was a U.S. Marine Corps
corporal and fought at Roi Island, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, Saipan,
Marianas Island, Tinian, Volcano Island and Iwo Jima. He earned two Purple
Heart medals and many citations. As a result of his service, he was disabled.

2.Vincent Dugas graduated from St. Mary's High School. He served
with the U.S. Army's Office of Strategic Services. Fluent in French, he was
part of a force that parachuted into France before D-day. After the invasion
of Normandy he worked with the French Resistance ahead of the invasion force
in the Ardennes, Northern France and into the Rhineland. He was the recipient
of four Bronze Stars.

3.George P.
Daddona graduated from Waltham
High School in 1936. He served with the Marine Corp 5th Division, the first
Marines at Iwo Jima and earned the Purple Heart. He also served in the first
division to land and occupy Japan after the surrender.

During the winter preceding the battle of
Lexington and Concord, cannons, ammunition and military supplies were stored
in Waltham. Fearful of a raid by British troops from nearby Boston all arms
were moved to Worcester and Concord. (History of Middlesex County - Page 712.)

The British commander, General Gage, was
planning such a raid on Waltham in the spring. When he learned that the arms
were moved, Gage changed his plans. He would not only confiscate the arms in
Concord but he would also punish Waltham by burning the town.

On April 19, 1775, as we all know, the
British force met resistance at Lexington and Concord. They then cancelled
their plans to burn Waltham on the way back to Boston. Instead they returned
to Boston the same way they came.

The Minutemen of Waltham gathered near
Piety Corner (intersection of Lincoln and Lexington Streets) on April
19, 1775, where they held until it was ascertained whether the British were
returning by the Great Road (Main Street) or by the way they had come
in the morning. When the later route was reported some Waltham Minutemen
marched off towards Lexington according to Edmund L. Sanderson in his book,
"Waltham 1630–1884," page 56.

Abraham Peirce was Captain of this company of over 100 men.

An audio recording by Dr. Alfred Worcester
of Waltham in 1951 tells the events of this historical day in Waltham as they
were told to him by his great-grandmother.

In 1930 a monument commemorating this
historical day in Waltham was erected by the Waltham Historical Society and
the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The Waltham Museum salutes Paul Marqus...."Well
Done"

Paul R. Marqus lived at 140 Charles Street before World War II
and attended St. Charles High School. When the war started he tried to join
the navy but didn't pass the physical. Marqus persisted and got into the
army. After his training at Ft. Devens he was transferred to the 134th
Infantry which consisted mostly of the Nebraska National Guard. In Europe his
outfit was placed under the 35th Division and landed at Omaha Beach. Here
they advanced to the French town of St. Lo where they encountered fierce
resis-tance. For this action the 134th Infantry was awarded the Presidential
Unit Citation. Marqus was wounded outside St. Lo when he was bayonneted in
the upper-right chest. He later received the Purple Heart.

After recuperating in an English hospital
for four weeks he rejoined his outfit as it advanced through France and
Germany. After entering Germany they cam upon a burnt-out barn where the
Nazis had burnt to death over 200 civilians. Marqus was able to take two
photographs of this tragedy as evidence that these atrocities did happen. He
still has these photographs.

Later, while fighting in Germany, Marqus
was wounded again when a shell burst in the room of a building he was
defending. Not wanting to be separated from his unit again, Marqus washed and
bandaged his own wounds and continued on with the fighting. Later in life,
the wound to his right temple caused him to lose the sight of his right eye.

On May 7, 1945 the Germans surrendered and
the war was over in Europe. Marqus had won the Bronze Star and 5 Battle
Stars.

When he got back to Waltham his mother
told him that two of his friends, Raymond P. Shaughnessy and Elmer J. Barden,
were killed during the war. While still in his uniform Marqus had an
emotional visit with their parents.

Paul Marqus later married Alice M. Leblanc
and worked for many years at the J. L. Thomson Company. They still reside in
Waltham.

On February 19, 1999, Michael Cleary and
other members of the museum staff visited the Springfield Armory Museum and
the Worcester Armory Museum. This is one of the Waltham Museum's programs to
see how and what other museums are doing.

At the Springfield Armory we saw the
Johnson Semi-Automatic Rifle, M 1941, on exhibit, Catalog No. 4454. The Johnson rifle was named for its inventor,
Captain Melvin M. Johnson, United States Marine Corp who was born and raised
in Waltham.

The recoil-operated semi-automatic weapon
was developed before World War II and is not as familiar as other weapons on
exhibit at this museum. One reason is because the Garand rifle was already in
full production when the Johnson rifle came out. The Johnson rifle did see
limited service in World War II, principally by the Marines in the Pacific.

Note: Melvin Johnson's
father was Melvin Johnson Senior, the famous defense lawyer in Waltham's
Clarence Glover murder case of 1909 that was nationally followed. Also
Melvin's grandfather was Byron Johnson, the first mayor of Waltham.

At the Worcester Armory museum they have a
fine exhibit of the 182nd Infantry that became part of the Americal Division
during World War II. They saw lots of action in the Pacific and Company F of
Waltham was part of this group.

The following man from the U.S. Navy
was a prisoner of war during WW II: LAFORET,
Marshall John

World War II Casualties from Waltham

In our last newsletter we listed World War
II casualties from the U.S. Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard. Below is a list
of the U.S. Army casualties which were provided by Bill Smith, a member of
the museum.

Private Everett H. M. Dunbrack of 17
Underwood Park in Waltham was in the Philippines when World War II started.
He was last heard from by his widowed mother on May 7, 1942. The headlines in
the April 17, 1943 Waltham News-Tribune states that "WIDOW LEARNS SON
JAP PRISONER." The Red Cross had informed her that her 24-year-old
son was captured by the Japanese after the fall of Corregidor and is now
their prisoner.

Born in Waltham January 9, 1919, he
graduated from Waltham High School in 1937. For two years he was a member of
the championship Waltham High School hockey team, playing as goalie. In
October 1940 he enlisted in the ground crew of the Army Air Corp. training at
Fort Slocum, New York and in January of 1941 was assigned to Nichols Field in
the Philippines. When the Japanese invaded the Philippines in 1941, the
island of Corregidor was the last to fall.

As of now the museum does not know what
happened to Dunbrack after the war. We welcome any information on this
matter.

Most
historians of the past rated confederate generals like Robert E. Lee and Stonewall
Jackson very highly. While the northern generals like Nathaniel Banks and
Pope were rated low. As the Civil War
is studied by modern historians in more detail, opinions are beginning to
change. In the June 1998 edition of American Heritage it wrote that General
Robert E. Lee was the most overrated general. Lee won most of his battles in
Northern Virginia, an area he and his men knew very well. At the same time
the lifelong residents would help their fellow confederates by showing them
short cuts and revealing where the Yankee forces were.

This was the situation that General Banks and his men found themselves in when they
fought Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandore Valley in 1862. Jackson won most
of the battles because he and his men knew the territory, the winding hills
and hidden vallies. In several cases Jackson, with the help of residents,
would use little known paths to get his forces behind General Bank's army.

Even with all this, General Banks managed
to inflict numerous causalities on the confederates. In two encounters, one
on March 23, 1862 and another on August 9, 1862, Banks defeats Jackson.
Another way to put it is, if these battles were in Eastern Massachusetts the
outcome may have been different. Perhaps as future historians study the Civil
War in more detail, they may give General Nathaniel Banks of Waltham the
credit he deserves.

Recently it was noted in an old book entitled "New England
Captives Carried to Canada 1677–1760," by Emma Lewis Coleman that one
Waltham man was listed. This was during the French and Indian War.

Eliphalet Hastings of Waltham, who was the son of Joseph Hastings,
was captured by the Indians on April 23, 1757. He was taken to Caughnawaga
where he was sold to the French. Then he was taken to France where he was
imprisoned and left sick in Rochel in February 1759. On January 2, 1760 he
was returned to Quebec, Canada and released. Colonel Schuyer supplied him
with 29 Livres (French money) as settlement money after the French lost.

Hastings also fought at Bunker Hill. A
section of Waltham, Past and Present reads that "on June 11, 1776, the
Selectman of Waltham ordered the Treasurer to pay Josiah Wyer for a bayonet
lost by Eliphalet Hastings at the battle of Bunker Hill."

Hastings was mentioned again when "on
September 10, 1781, the town of Waltham refused to take any steps to defend
Lieutenant Eliphalet Hastings and others against an indictment found against
them for a riot, in their endeavors to arrest Felix Cuff, a Negro slave who
was enlisted by the committee in 1780, Cuff, and other Negro slaves concealed
themselves in the summer of 1780 in a cave on Stony brook, called the
"Devil's Den."

Opposite the Stony Brook depot is a hill,
called Snake Rock, from the rattlesnakes which used to abound at the foot of
its precipitous western side. In the face of this high rock is this cave,
some 20 feet in depth. Lieutenant Hastings, having discovered the whereabouts
of the fugitives, went up with a party of young men to capture them; but hey
met with a warm reception and came back empty handed. The Negroes afterwards
prosecuted Hastings for riot: hence the indictment referred to."

[Editor's Note: Extensive research would
probably uncover a very exciting life for Eliphalet Hastings.)

The Waltham
Museum bought the April 16, 1863 edition of the N.Y. Daily Tribune in which
two of the leading stories were about General Banks victories as he moves to
capture Port Hudson in Louisiana. A Civil War book entitled Marching To
Victory with a number of references to General Banks was also acquired.

Editors Note: Some history book authors
fault General Banks for letting Stonewall Jackson and General Lee get the
best of him while fighting in the Shennandoh Valley of Virginia. What these
authors fail to realize is that this land was strange to a union general, but
it was home territory to Jackson and Lee. Look what happened to General Lee
when he went to a strange territory in Pennsylvania, he suffered a terrible
defeat at Gettysburg.